Minimal APIs After the Hype: What Remains When Boilerplate Is Gone?

ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs have matured past the hype cycle. Rather than replacing controllers or MVC, they reset the default starting point from complexity to simplicity, forcing developers to consciously justify every abstraction. The piece reflects on what this shift revealed: much of traditional .NET API ceremony was habit rather than necessity. Minimal APIs excel in microservices, edge services, prototyping, and serverless scenarios, but struggle with large domain models and multi-team governance. Their lasting impact is not fewer lines of code but fewer assumptions—making architecture a deliberate decision rather than an inherited default.